Former FBI Director Comey takes dig at Kash Patel, explains controversial Trump post

USA Today

28-05-2025

Former FBI Director Comey takes dig at Kash Patel, explains controversial Trump post
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Secret Service investigating ex-FBI chief James Comey's '8647' post
Ex-FBI Director James Comey posted an image of the numbers '8647,' sparking outrage as some saw it as a call for violence.
Former FBI Director James Comey aired his "doubts" about the current bureau leadership, Director Kash Patel and Deputy Director Dan Bongino, in a televised interview after his own recent dust-up related to President Donald Trump.
"There are lots of people in the FBI who know what they're doing," Comey said in a May 28 interview with CNN. "I hope these two guys are letting them guide them."
Comey has been a fierce adversary of Trump since the commander-in-chief fired him in 2017.
Pressed by CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer on whether he felt Patel and Bongino, both Trump picks, were capable of steering the FBI, Comey was clear: "Nothing in their life or their career gives me confidence that they know anything about leading an organization like that."
Comey criticized a recent announcement by Bongino that the bureau would be zeroing in on three cases of "potential public corruption," including the discovery of cocaine in the White House in 2023 and the 2022 leak of a Supreme Court draft opinion overturning Roe v. Wade.
"It's a little confusing to me, honestly. I'm sure it's a huge adjustment to go from being a podcaster to being the deputy director of the FBI," Comey said, taking a swipe at Bongino's previous career as a conservative talk show host.
Supreme Court Marshal Gail Curley investigated the leaked opinion at the time of the incident, Comey said, adding, "I don't know what the FBI's role is there." The monthslong investigation concluded in January 2023, with Curley writing in a 20-page report that the source of the leak could not be identified.
The Secret Service also failed to uncover the culprit responsible for cocaine found in the White House. The agency closed its investigation after less than two weeks due to "a lack of physical evidence." Former President Joe Biden was away from the White House at the time the illegal drug was found in the West Wing.
Comey said the third case on Bongino's list, concerning an unknown suspect who planted pipe bombs near the Republican and Democratic national committees' Washington headquarters on January 6, 2021, was never closed.
Yet Bongino's post on X announced that case was part of a new probe.
"I also don't understand who the audience is for this tweet," Comey told CNN.
Comey noted that while the FBI does ask for public assistance in some cases, "this seems much more narrowly targeted − maybe to a former podcast audience."
Since being dismissed by Trump years ago, Comey said he feels like he has a target on his back.
"When the president of the United States aims at you, it changes your life in a number of ways," he said. "It causes people to aim at you, aim at your family members, which is my biggest concern."
Asked if he is worried about security, Comey told Blitzer, "I am always worried."
"I'm a giraffe, so I stick out," said Comey, who is 6'8".
More recently, the former FBI director came under fire for a since-deleted social media post showing an image of seashells that spelled out "8647."
More: What does 8647 mean? Why James Comey's Instagram post triggered federal response
Some interpreted the post as a message of violence. In U.S. slang, the number 86 can be used as code for removing someone, perhaps for disorderly behavior, and 47 is often used to refer to Trump, the 47th president.
Comey has called the photo a misunderstanding.
"I thought it was a message of political opposition to Donald Trump, done in a very clever way," he said on CNN. "I had never heard − actually still haven't credibly heard − the numbers 86 associated with murder. But if people are going to say that, which never occurred to me, I don't want that on my Instagram post. And so I took it down."